21,187 research outputs found
A Coalgebraic Approach to Reducing Finitary Automata
Compact representations of automata are important for efficiency. In this
paper, we study methods to compute reduced automata, in which no two states
accept the same language. We do this for finitary automata (FA), an abstract
definition that encompasses probabilistic and weighted automata. Our procedure
makes use of Milius' locally finite fixpoint. We present a reduction algorithm
that instantiates to probabilistic and S-linear weighted automata (WA) for a
large class of semirings. Moreover, we propose a potential connection between
properness of a semiring and our provided reduction algorithm for WAs, paving
the way for future work in connecting the reduction of automata to the
properness of their associated coalgebras
A Few Considerations on Structural and Logical Composition in Specification Theories
Over the last 20 years a large number of automata-based specification
theories have been proposed for modeling of discrete,real-time and
probabilistic systems. We have observed a lot of shared algebraic structure
between these formalisms. In this short abstract, we collect results of our
work in progress on describing and systematizing the algebraic assumptions in
specification theories.Comment: In Proceedings FIT 2010, arXiv:1101.426
Finite-State Abstractions for Probabilistic Computation Tree Logic
Probabilistic Computation Tree Logic (PCTL) is the established temporal
logic for probabilistic verification of discrete-time Markov chains. Probabilistic
model checking is a technique that verifies or refutes whether a property
specified in this logic holds in a Markov chain. But Markov chains are often
infinite or too large for this technique to apply. A standard solution to
this problem is to convert the Markov chain to an abstract model and to
model check that abstract model. The problem this thesis therefore studies
is whether or when such finite abstractions of Markov chains for model
checking PCTL exist.
This thesis makes the following contributions. We identify a sizeable fragment
of PCTL for which 3-valued Markov chains can serve as finite abstractions;
this fragment is maximal for those abstractions and subsumes many
practically relevant specifications including, e.g., reachability. We also develop
game-theoretic foundations for the semantics of PCTL over Markov
chains by capturing the standard PCTL semantics via a two-player games.
These games, finally, inspire a notion of p-automata, which accept entire
Markov chains. We show that p-automata subsume PCTL and Markov
chains; that their languages of Markov chains have pleasant closure properties;
and that the complexity of deciding acceptance matches that of probabilistic
model checking for p-automata representing PCTL formulae. In addition,
we offer a simulation between p-automata that under-approximates
language containment. These results then allow us to show that p-automata
comprise a solution to the problem studied in this thesis
Towards Trace Metrics via Functor Lifting
We investigate the possibility of deriving metric trace semantics in a
coalgebraic framework. First, we generalize a technique for systematically
lifting functors from the category Set of sets to the category PMet of
pseudometric spaces, showing under which conditions also natural
transformations, monads and distributive laws can be lifted. By exploiting some
recent work on an abstract determinization, these results enable the derivation
of trace metrics starting from coalgebras in Set. More precisely, for a
coalgebra on Set we determinize it, thus obtaining a coalgebra in the
Eilenberg-Moore category of a monad. When the monad can be lifted to PMet, we
can equip the final coalgebra with a behavioral distance. The trace distance
between two states of the original coalgebra is the distance between their
images in the determinized coalgebra through the unit of the monad. We show how
our framework applies to nondeterministic automata and probabilistic automata
On the Complexity of the Equivalence Problem for Probabilistic Automata
Checking two probabilistic automata for equivalence has been shown to be a
key problem for efficiently establishing various behavioural and anonymity
properties of probabilistic systems. In recent experiments a randomised
equivalence test based on polynomial identity testing outperformed
deterministic algorithms. In this paper we show that polynomial identity
testing yields efficient algorithms for various generalisations of the
equivalence problem. First, we provide a randomized NC procedure that also
outputs a counterexample trace in case of inequivalence. Second, we show how to
check for equivalence two probabilistic automata with (cumulative) rewards. Our
algorithm runs in deterministic polynomial time, if the number of reward
counters is fixed. Finally we show that the equivalence problem for
probabilistic visibly pushdown automata is logspace equivalent to the
Arithmetic Circuit Identity Testing problem, which is to decide whether a
polynomial represented by an arithmetic circuit is identically zero.Comment: technical report for a FoSSaCS'12 pape
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